Boy, 5, killed while riding horse on Mercer County trail

Funeral services will be Wednesday for a 5-year-old boy who died Sunday night after a horse fell on top of him during a trail ride in rural Mercer County.

Caden Moon was pronounced dead at 7:37 p.m. Sunday at James B. Haggin Memorial Hospital in Harrodsburg. He died of head trauma, according to the Mercer County coroner's office.

Caden was not wearing safety headgear, Mercer County Coroner David "Sonny" Ransdell said.

The accident happened at Eagle's Nest Equestrian Trails, a privately owned trail system on Calvary Road five miles northwest of Harrodsburg.

Caden was riding with family when he fell off the horse. The animal stumbled, fell and rolled on top of the boy, Deputy Matt Swabey said in a release. The sheriff's office was dispatched to the Calvary Road scene at 6:20 p.m. Sunday.

The family rushed the boy to their vehicle and headed toward Harrodsburg, but an ambulance intercepted the vehicle on Industry Road. From there Emergency Medical Services took Caden to the Harrodsburg hospital.

Caden had turned 5 on May 16, the release said.

Michael Conover, co-owner of Eagle's Nest with his wife, Carol, said the boy's relatives were frequent visitors to the more than 40 miles of trails spread out over nearly 1,000 acres on several farms.

"There is no more experienced horse family in this county than that family," Conover said. "They are the premier trail-riding, horse-riding family in Mercer County. This boy's great-granddaddy, when my wife and I were so poor we couldn't buy a horse trailer, he would come and trailer our horses for us, and tell my wife what to feed them and how to take care of them."

Conover said he did not know details about the accident or exactly where it happened. The trails go through "everything from heavy timber to scrub to creek beds to hills," he said. "I think that's one of the reasons it's so popular. It is so diverse. There are so many different things to see.

"This is one of the few places in Mercer County that has the feel of being remote when it's not."

Conover said riders bring their own horses and are allowed to ride the trails for free. Kentucky first lady Jane Beshear rode the trails there in October 2008 with several members of Kentucky Back Country Horsemen, a group that seeks to maintain horseback riding on public lands.

Visitation for Caden will be 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Ransdell Funeral Chapel in Harrodsburg. Services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral chapel.